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Custodians of the Cape Peninsula : a historical and contemporary ethnography of urban conservation in Cape Town

Swanepoel, Janie (2013-12)

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.

Thesis

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The official custodian of the Cape Peninsula mountain chain, located at the centre of Cape Town, is the
Table Mountain National Park (TMNP). This park is South Africa’s only urban open-access park and has
been declared a World Heritage Site. This thesis is an anthropological and historical examination of the
past and present conservation of the Cape Peninsula . I provide an overview of the relationship between
the urban environment and the Cape Peninsula aiming to illustrate the produced character of the
mountains and its mediation in power relations. This study of custodianship reveals that protecting and
conserving the Cape Peninsula is shaped by the politics of the urban and natural environment as well as
by the experience of living in the city. As such, official and unofficial custodianship is informed by class
and race differentiations, embedded in the politics of identity, responsive to the local and national
political transformations in governance and connected to the urban struggles of the marginalised
Capetonians. Furthermore, inherent in the notion of custodianship is the social appropriation of the Cape
Peninsula which was shown to produce specific ideological representations of nature.
The thesis presents an ethnographic study of Hangberg, a poor neighbourhood situated at the border of the
TMNP. There, the encroachments and poaching within the park boundaries is addressed by focussing on
the competing discourses between biodiversity, entitlement and heritage. The engagements between the
TMNP, the state and Hangberg on the issues of conservation reveal the distinct complexities of running a
national park in a city beset with inequalities. My focus on these engagements also illustrates that the
manifestation of ‘community’ is a construction contingent upon circumstances which reflect a meaningful
and political relationship between identity, citizenship and place, rather than a homogeneous group of
people.
I conclude with the idea that in attempting to make the park socially and racially equitable, urban
conservation ought to begin to recognise its distinct urban character in the larger socio-environmental
framework of the city.

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The conservation of biodiversity is becoming increasingly challenging as habitats are
disturbed, fragmented or destroyed. Although nature reserves now cover more than 10 %
of the earths’ surface it has ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis describes the findings of a survey to investigate the attitudes and behaviour of private landholders
towards the conservation of Overberg Coastal Renosterveld, a highly endangered grassy-shrubland ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The fires, which occurred during January 2000 on the Southern Cape Peninsula, Cape Province, South
Africa, focused attention on the importance of sound, informed management of exotic plant invaders ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Conservation planners use many traditional biodiversity conservation tools to help alleviate
the global biodiversity crisis. However, ongoing biodiversity loss has stimulated the
development of new and ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: West Coast Renosterveld is one of the most threatened vegetation types in South
Africa. Less than 5% of the original extent of this vegetation type remains, of which
80% is on private land. In addition ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Picturesque Cape Town is the epitome of an urban/nature interface but one within which
chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) face slander for transgressing both the socially constructed
human/animal and ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The current biodiversity crisis requires creative initiatives for mitigating further
biodiversity loss. The use of ecological networks (ENs) is such an initiative. The South
African forestry industry ...

This study aims to investigate properties of writing relating to genre-based literacy in isiXhosa as a first language (that is, as home language) for Grade eleven learners. The research investigates the problem of writing ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the water demand of selected residential properties with access to groundwater in serviced areas of the Cape Peninsula. This winter rainfall region is typified by hot and dry summer ...

Small farm dams (< 20 ha) in the Western Cape Province provide adequate water conditions for
intensive cage production of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). A major environmental concern of
cage aquaculture, however, ...

ENGLISH SUMMARY: Protected areas do not always achieve the desired level of biodiversity conservation, while
often reducing the welfare of indigenous communities by reducing availability of land for
subsistence. Traditional ...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Both taxonomic diversity and diversity of species interaction networks are experiencing
declines as a result of agricultural intensification at habitat and landscape scales. Reversing
this trend is a ...

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa promotes participatory, cooperative
governance and environmental conservation. This constitutional directive is enhanced into the
National Environmental Management Act and ...

Swartland Shale Renosterveld is restricted to fertile fine-grained soils in the winter rainfall region of
the Western Cape. Between 91% and 97% of this vegetation type is transformed, mostly due to
agriculture. Remaining ...

The regeneration of alien and indigenous vegetation in various post-fire environments, following the extensive January 2000 wildfires on the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, is described. The effects of dry season wildfire ...

Natural areas are becoming increasingly fragmented and embedded in an urban matrix. Natural and semi-natural areas at the urban/wildland interface are threatened by a variety of 'edge effects', and are especially vulnerable ...